Marcus Miller – Bass

William Henry Marcus Miller Jr. was born in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on June 14, 1959. He grew up in a musical family; his father, William Miller, was a church organist and choir director. Through his father, he is the cousin of jazz pianist Wynton Kelly. He became classically trained as a clarinetist and later learned to play keyboards, saxophone, and guitar.

Miller began to work regularly in New York City, eventually playing bass and writing music for jazz flautist Bobbi Humphrey and keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith. Miller’s earliest influences include James Jamerson and Larry Graham. He spent approximately 15 years performing as a session musician. During that time he also arranged and produced frequently. He was a member of the Saturday Night Live band between 1979 and 1981. He co-wrote Aretha Franklin’s “Jump To It” along with Luther Vandross, and sang alongside Vandross on the 1986 David Bowie single “Underground” from the movie Labyrinth. He has played bass on over thousands of recordings, appearing on albums by such artists as Michael Jackson, Beyoncé, Herbie Hancock, Mariah Carey, Eric Clapton, The Crusaders, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, Frank Sinatra, George Benson, Dr. John, Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Joe Walsh, Jean-Michel Jarre, Grover Washington Jr., Donald Fagen, Bill Withers, Bernard Wright, Kazumi Watanabe, Chaka Khan, LL Cool J and Flavio Sala. He won the “Most Valuable Player” award (given by NARAS to recognize studio musicians) three years in a row and was subsequently awarded “player emeritus” status and retired from eligibility.

Donald Fagen’s 1982 album ‘The Nightfly’ was a ‘Who’s Who’ of US session bass players of that era and included Will Lee, Anthony Jackson, Chuck Rainey, Abraham Laboriel and Marcus Miller. This is the Marcus Miller performance on ‘The Goodbye Look’. Lots of ghost notes and some nice little fills which makes for an interesting read!